What do First Nations really think about Trans Mountain? – National Post

Ask Greenpeace, and they’ll tell you First Nations are eco-warriors bravely protecting the ocean from rapacious pipeline-crazed plutocrats. Ask the Fraser Institute, and they’ll say First Nations are enthusiastic, hard-hatted oilmen who are tired of the “environmentalist propaganda” saying otherwise.

The reality is somewhat more complex. The 1,147-km Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would affect more than 100 First Nations, each with their own unique economy, motivations and feelings about bitumen.

Below, some context for the current state of affairs between oil pipelines and Western Canada’s various First Peoples.

The chief who invited Neil Young and Jane Fonda to Fort McMurray? He supports a pipeline

This is one of the more surprising developments of the last few weeks. Allan Adam, chief of Alberta’s Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, has spent years as the world’s most visible opponent of oil sands development. From Neil Young to Leonardo DiCaprio to Jane Fonda, if a celebrity is in Fort McMurray to badmouth the oil sands, chances are they came on the invitation of Chief Adam. Then, last week, Adam expressed his support for any pipeline that could be built with an Indigenous ownership stake. “Let’s move on and let’s start building a pipeline and start moving the oil that’s here already,” he told CBC.